Perfect Confidence
by Sister Mary Berchmans Hannan, VHM, ’48 & ’50, Mother Superior and President Emerita, Georgetown
A picture of my two young grandnephews, sitting on the top stair of their home in their Christmas pajamas, with looks of joyous anticipation framing their eager faces, stirred memories of many of the Christmases I shared with my family. We too, as young children, would sit on the top stair waiting for dad to push the magic button that lit up the magnificent Christmas tree we had decorated the evening before. Watching and waiting in grand anticipation on that top stair until the signal was given to rush down to see the miracle of Christmas right in our cozy living room remains in my mind even to this day.
St. Francis de Sales invites us to run to Mary and, as her little children, to cast ourselves into her arms with “perfect confidence.”
Like the humble shepherds, who hastened to the Christ Child, who was tenderly watched over by Mary and Joseph, let us this Christmastide, gently place ourselves under the watchful care of our Blessed Mother.
The Christmas liturgies offer numerous opportunities for us to ponder the wonder of God’s love. Jesus came to this earth to teach us how to live a good life, a life of loving acceptance and care for one another. He came, not in splendor, but in a rough stable. Crowded around the infant Jesus in his place of birth were humble shepherds. In hearing the angels’ message GLORY TO GOD in the highest and PEACE to people of good will, they hastened to see this wonder led by the brightness of an unusual star.
Let us this Christmastide, following the example of the simple shepherds, look to God’s loving will as our guiding star. Let it guide us to the children of our world who are homeless, those on our southern border, the countless refugees who have been forced from their homes and homelands, the children in our city who are without sufficient food and shelter, and those in danger of gun violence.
Christmas Blessings to each member of our Visitation family and a New Year in which each one of us might “love life and live Jesus” with simple joy, embracing God’s loving will as it unfolds in our lives.
May God Be Praised